Recently in Investments Category

I received an email from enzyme producer Danisco announcing the start-up of one of the world's first and largest cellulosic ethanol demonstration biorefineries located in Kalundborg, Denmark.

The facility is a joint venture of DONG Energy and Inbicon. Danisco's enzyme business, Genencor, supplies the Accellerase© enzymes, which are used to convert the feedstock straw to ethanol (for E85 fuel use).

The facility is expected to use 30,000 tonnes/year of straw to produce 5.4 million litres of bioethanol (1.5 million gallons); 13,000 tonnes of lignin pellets; and 11,100 tonnes C5 molasses. DONG Energy said the bio pellets can be used as fuel at CPH plants, and the C5 molasses can be used for animal feed and other purposes.

"Our bioethanol plant will demonstrate that we are capable of producing so-called second generation bioethanol on the basis of waste products. If our technology is well received by the global markets, new opportunities of export will evolve", said Anders Eldrup, CEO of DONG Energy.

Here's an unedited clip of the plant's inauguration: (see how much straw they need?!?!)

I guess this is the week of big green chemistry news. Love it!

Aside from the Rivertop Renewables and Elevance news, here's another one from Zeachem, who announced yesterday about their new semi works scale cellulosic biorefinery being constructed in Colorado. The facility will have capacity to produce 250,000 gallons of biofuel per year using the company's naturally occurring bacteria, called an acetogen.

The company is working with Hazen Research, Inc. of Golden, Colorado to construct the critical first step of the biorefinery fermentation process. Zeachem says its hybrid biorefinery platform based on biochemical and thermochemical processing can produce ethanol fuel and intermediate chemicals using flexible feedstock.

ZeaChem intends in 2013 to scale to a commercial biorefinery of around 25m gal/year in Boardman, Oregon, upon successful operations at the semi-works scale facility.

For more information on Zeachem's project:

Thanks to the Green Underworld Reporter for sending this information about Elevance Renewable Sciences in a proposed joint venture with biodiesel producer Renewable Energy Group (REG) to build a 2.6m gallon/year demo-scale integrated biorefinery in Newton, Iowa.

In an application filed by Elevance late last month to the Iowa Dept. of Economic Development (IDED) for funding assistance, the company said the proposed biorefinery will convert renewable raw materials primarily sourced from Iowa such as soybean oil, ethanol DDG corn oil, animal fats, algae oil and other emerging oils, into olefins, fuels and specialty chemicals.

About 15-16 million pounds/year of vegetable oil feedstock could be used to operate the proposed facility at 90% capacity. According to Elevance, success of the demo plant will enable the company to retrofit existing biodiesel facilities in Iowa with a fully diversified biorefinery.

REG is expected to provide their existing biodiesel production plant in Newton for the biorefinery location as well as provide their experiences in raw material sourcing/transportation/handling, and in constructing novel, continuous flow operating systems.

REG's experience in fuel and glycerin marketing and logistics will also come in handy, the company said.

Elevance is seeking $800,000 in financial assistance from the IDED and another $2.67 million from the Iowa Power Fund to contribute to the $8.7m estimated cost of the project through 2011. The rest will be funded by the company.

According to the filing, the project is estimated to create around 40-60 full time jobs in 2010 for engineering construction, site preparation and installation. The project will create 7 permanent jobs when the biorefinery starts around 4th quarter of 2010. Full operating capacity is expected in 2012.

Elevance said the company is actively considering locations outside Iowa such as Illinois, Washinigton, Texas and Louisiana, if the project will not proceed in Iowa.

Here's another green chemistry company start-up to add to my list.

I received an email about Missoula, Montana-based Rivertop Renewables who is developing glucaric acid, a sugar-based acid created by oxidizing glucose which can be used as a building block chemical.

According to the company, the US Department of Energy recognized glucaric acid as one of the top "twelve building block chemicals" that can be subsequently converted to a number of high-value bio-based chemicals or materials.

The markets for glucaric acid derivatives such as glucarates and lactones are said to be undeveloped as they are expensive and the supply has been limited, with most being use for research or as a health supplement ingredient.

Rivertop Renewables said that they were able to develop a scalable, cost-effective and safe glucaric acid production technology based on 10 years of research that started at the University of Montana. Early markets for their product include, among others, detergents (as a builder to replace phosphates), diapers (increasing its biodegradability), road salt deicers (as corrosion inhibitors); and as concrete admixtures.

The company says replacing phosphates in detergents alone represents a $9 billion market opportunity.To produce the acid, the company is using a proprietary oxidation technology.

"We refined the oxidation of nitric acid into a catalytic process that reduces the amount of needed nitric acid, minimizes the production of waste, and increases the yield of valuable end-use products," says Don Kiely founder and chairman. "The oxidation platform is adaptable to feedstocks beyond glucose such as sucrose and xylose."

The company is in the midst of their first round of funding of $1.4 million, and said to be in talks with major manufacturers that can make and distribute their chemicals at low cost.

It looks like chemical companies are in full swing promoting numerous green projects and products. We recently posted news from Dow Chemical, Honeywell, Clariant, Eastman, Teijin, Arkema... and now here's from BASF.

The company is formally launching on Wednesday its new zero-emission Acrodur® acrylic thermosets for automotive applications. The new acrylics are thermally cross-linkable, said to be free of formaldehyde and other emissions, and offer new routes to innovative composite materials.

With the product, natural-based fibers such as wood, flax, hemp or sisal can be resinated in different ways for used in the production of shaped panels for automobile interiors. Kettering University, which released the news, said that the green acrylic can provide a great variety of other natural and man-made fibers of the nonwoven industry or even granulated materials, which can be bonded with the new binder system.

I feel like I wrote this equation before but yesterday's investor presentation from Dow Chemical emphasized their strategy in incorporating sustainability in all aspects of their operations and businesses mostly because it is profitable to do so.

The company has been busy investing and making deals right and left in lithium battery, carbon capture, solar, and other sustainability-infused projects. Here are some of them announced yesterday:

3. Dow Kokam acquires all of the assets of lithium battery manufacturer Kokam America. The acquisition will enable Dow to manufacture a wide range of lithium polymer cells especially to the electric vehicle industry. Dow Kokam has been awarded a $161 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) last August to develop new generation of high-power battery technology electric vehicles.

4. Dow and Denbury Onshore LLC (Denbury) signed a memorandum of understanding to capture the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) by-product from Dow's ethylene oxide (EO) plant in Plaquemine, Louisiana. Denbury will use the CO2 for its enhanced oil recovery operations. The CO2 capture project is expected to be operational in mid-2011.

5. Dow's Polyglycols, Surfactants and Fluids business are now supplying their DOWTHERM(TM) heat transfer fluid to three additional Spanish solar power plants enabling the facilities to collect heat and convert it into electrical energy.

I tried to find this press release on GE's website but was unsuccessful. According to a Dow Jones article, GE will close its only solar panel manufacturing facility in the US as prices for panels become cheaper.

GE's crystalline silicone panels production facility in Delaware will reportedly stop by January and will completely shut down by the end of June next year. The plant employs 80 people and all will be laid off and receive severance and benefits packages.

The plant has capacity to produce 34 megawatts of panels annually, which could be expanded to 68 MW. It was reported that GE wants to sell 100% of the facility for cash by the end of the year.

BP solar was mentioned in the article as another traditional solar materials player that exited the US manufacturing industry. BP announced in March that it is closing down its module assembly activity at Frederick, Maryland, as well as its cell manufacture and module assembly facilities in Madrid, Spain.

The phase out of module assembly at Frederick will result in the elimination of approximately 140 jobs out of about 600. The plant continues its silicon casting, wafering, sizing and solar cell production. Dow Jones reported that the assembly plant is still on sale.

It is also interesting to note that while these traditional players are closing down shops in the US, foreign-based manufacturers are setting up plants such as Chinese panel manufacturers Suntech Power Holdings Co. and Yingli Green Energy Holdings Co. The drivers behind this move, according to the Dow Jones article, is concern on "Buy American" potential regulations, increasing shipping costs, and getting a piece of the stimulus funds for renewable energy investments in the US.

Suntech and Yingli have both filed applications for the renewable energy tax breaks under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

There are so many news to cover this week (and last week!) that I'll start with this one. It was a bit of a surprise that Shell abandoned their biofuel project with Germany-based CHOREN Industries but maybe Shell is cutting down as they're handling to many biofuel projects these days?? (See some of their activities in next generation biofuels in my ICB article published Oct. 5).

Choren announced last week that Shell sold its shares in the company to remaining shareholders that include a group of Hamburg-based entrepreneurs as well as carmakers Daimler and Volkswagen. Choren and Shell agreed not to disclose any information about this transaction so I guess we'll just wonder the reason behind this unless somebody will "anonymously" give a tip ; )

Other major Choren shareholder said that they will increase their funding for Choren's upcoming projects. Shell, however, will still give its support when it comes to technical expertise in next generation biofuels, according to Choren's CEO Marcel Ulrichs.

Shell started working with Choren in 2005 in the development of biomass-to-liquid (BTL) fuels using mostly wood products and wood-based waste as feedstock. Choren still plans to start its first 15,000 tonnes/year BTL plant in Freiberg in south Germany by next year.

Dow Chemical explains how their joint venture development with algae company Algenol Biofuels will work. The company says the ethanol produced from algae can either be used as biofuel or chemical feedstock.

Renewable chemical companies seem to be getting better in raising money from venture firms these days.

An article from Reuters cited the recent news (which I also posted in my news roundup) about biosuccinic acid producer DNP Green Technology raising $12m from venture firms Sofinnova Partners, Mitsui & Co., Venture Partners, Samsung Ventures Investment Corp., Clifton Group, and AquaRIMCO. All are new investors except for AquaRIMCO.

Reuters also noted other examples such as bioplastic developer Novomer when it raised $14m in August; Draths Corp. with $21.7m in spring; Segetis with a $15m start-up investment from Khosla Ventures in 2007; and recently Rennovia, where I posted in September about their $6m seed funding from 5AM Ventures and Versant Ventures.

Other company activities not mention were OPX Biotechnologies which raised $17.5m in April led by Braemar Energy Ventures; Zeachem, which raised $34m in January; Amyris Biotechnologies, which reportedly raised $41.75 million recently from new investors GrupoCornelioBrennand of Brazil and Naxos UK; and it is also noteworthy to mention the formation of Elevance last year with a $40m funding led by TPG Growth and TPG Biotechnology Partners.

There are of course several biofuel/renewable chemical players that are getting funds from traditional oil and chemical firms. These include Gevo that received X amounts of dollars (or Euro?) last April from French oil company Total; Shell increased its equity stake in Codexis last March; and ExxonMobil investing in Synthetic Genomics last July for more than $300m.

I'm sure there are many more out there that I haven't covered. Let me know! One more thing to mention (that probably already mentioned before) is that there seems to be a lot more interests from venture capital firms to look into green chemistry other than biofuels or other clean techs. I also recalled an email last summer from a venture capital firm interested in knowing more about who's who in this area.

That is why I formed my Green Chemical company list, which I hope will continue to grow.